


Out of the Blue

by valda



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Kylux Cantina, M/M, Unreliable Narrator, preslash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-25
Updated: 2017-09-25
Packaged: 2019-01-05 12:51:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12190329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/valda/pseuds/valda
Summary: Kylo Ren and General Hux have completely different reactions to being trapped on-planet after a mission by torrential rain.





	Out of the Blue

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the [Kylux Cantina](http://kyluxcantina.tumblr.com/) prompt "dancing in the rain." Also on Tumblr [here](http://cosleia.tumblr.com/post/165694392673/out-of-the-blue).

Kylo swore.

This should have been quick and easy—while General Hux and his diplomatic entourage distracted the Republic Senate (and their security, and the media) with misleading talk of peace, Kylo and his knights would slip into the archives, where Toraya Ren would slice in and downlink all information related to Leia Organa’s blasted Resistance.

Well, he reminded himself, all of that had happened. They just hadn’t foreseen having so much difficulty getting back off-planet.

Rain.

The Republic capital was on Floriscade this election cycle, a temperate planet with lush plantlife and what were supposed to be  _seasonal_  rains. It should by all rights be bright and sunny right now; instead the landing pad was invisible behind curtains of rain and all flights had been grounded until the unexpected monsoon passed.

It was gloomy. It was miserable. Kylo supposed the depressive atmosphere might help feed the Dark Side, but he still hated it.

“So we’re stuck here?” General Hux asked, striding into the private docking bay they’d rented for the duration of this mission.

“Until  _this_ stops,” Kylo answered, gesturing almost violently at the unforgiving rain just beyond the open hangar door. He looked at Hux; the man did not seem particularly perturbed, and indeed was even almost smiling. His hair was damp, shimmering droplets dangling from gelled clumps of darkened red, and his shoulders were spattered with raindrops. “Were you out in the storm?” Kylo asked without thinking, because there was no need for him to be; his transport could have entered the main bay before letting him off.

“Just a bit,” Hux said, swiping at the front of his uniform as if to banish the water. He stepped forward to the hatchway, standing alongside Kylo with his hands clasped behind his back, and gazed out at the rain. He was as calm as Kylo had ever seen him.

“I wouldn’t have expected you to be so blase about it,” Kylo said. “You look like a wet rat.” (Hux did not actually look like a wet rat; if anything, he looked energized, radiant, almost ethereal, and it was extremely off-putting.)

Hux actually laughed. “Well. Sometimes appearances aren’t the most important thing. Sometimes,” he stressed, glancing at Kylo, raking his eyes up and down over the robes, mask, and cowl. “For you I suppose appearances are paramount.”

Kylo huffed in irritation and crossed his arms.

“Have you been out in it?” Hux asked. “Or did you return before it started?”

“Well before,” Kylo said, a little arrogantly. “We got what we needed and returned immediately.”

“Oh, very well done, Ren,” Hux said, but his mocking tone was playful rather than acerbic, and Kylo wasn’t sure what to do with it.

“What’s wrong with you?” Kylo blurted.

Hux blinked at him. “I beg your pardon?”

“Why are you…like this?”

Hux’s brow furrowed. “I’m not sure I understand the question, Ren.”

Kylo scowled behind the mask. A quick skim of Hux’s mind revealed that he in fact did not have any idea what Kylo was talking about. Kylo didn’t feel like explaining. “Never mind,” he said.

Shrugging one shoulder, Hux turned back to the rainy view. Then, if it were possible, he was suddenly even  _more_  animated; he actually did smile, and his hands moved from behind his back, fingers lacing together in front of him. “Ooh, it’s let up a bit, look.”

Kylo looked, but he wasn’t sure he could tell the difference. “The sooner it stops, the better.”

“Ren,” Hux said, sounding disappointed, “can’t you ever let me enjoy anything?”

“…what?”

“Come here,” Hux said suddenly, resolutely, and then he was grabbing Kylo’s arm and dragging him out into the rain.

“How  _dare_  you lay a hand on—” Kylo broke off as rain began pelting his helmet, the echoes rendering him essentially deaf. He let out a strained growl.

“Take that off,” Hux said impatiently. “No one’s here to see.”

What Kylo wanted to do was turn around and storm back into the hangar. But there was something going on with Hux, and perhaps he should determine what exactly it was. He acquiesced, pulling the helmet free with a hiss.

It was like being in a real-water shower, the rain cascading over his hair, drumming across his scalp, streaming down his face. He closed his eyes.

“There,” Hux said, voice slightly raised to be heard over the sound of infinite water droplets pelting onto the tarmac in a continual, rushing crash. “Isn’t that better?”

“No,” Kylo replied. His cowl was completely waterlogged and the rain was seeping into the rest of his clothes. His boots squished when he took a step toward Hux.

“Yes it is,” Hux said stubbornly. “It’s beautiful. Cleansing. It’s  _real_.”

“I hate rain,” Kylo said. “It’s better when it’s sunny.”

Hux scoffed. “A sunny day is a bleak thing that saps your strength. It takes from you. A rainy day gives.”

Kylo grunted. “Well, enjoy being sopping wet, General. I’m going back inside.”

“Suit yourself.” Hux turned away from him.

Now that Hux was no longer invested in forcing Kylo to enjoy the rain, now that he had effectively dismissed Kylo, Kylo wanted nothing more than to stay out in it. He chewed on his lower lip, let his mind brush gently over Hux’s once more.

Hux was remembering something, a happy something. There was rain, and Hux was much younger, perhaps a child. He was running through the rain, spinning, laughing, dancing. Kylo abruptly remembered that as a child, before the New Republic invaded and colonized the planet, Hux had lived on the rain-soaked world of Arkanis.

He laughed softly. Nostalgia. Fond memories. A happy childhood. Kylo Ren had no such things. Kylo Ren was divorced from all attachments. He, unlike the general, was not weak.

Kylo spun on his heel with a flourish and stalked back to the hangar, and General Hux remained outside, swaying gently from side to side, smiling face turned upward into the rain.


End file.
